A Touch of Destiny
by Sing Me To Heaven
Summary: A young woman, torn apart by her past, and afraid of her future, crosses the ocean to the new world. An attack on her ship puts her in the paths of two men, a pirate and a former Commodore. Two men, so different, yet so alike, who change her forever.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: The Mouse owns everything.

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The ocean was bright and blue, and the sky was cloudless, seeming to stretch on forever. The _Marauder _cut through the calm ocean effortlessly, carrying its cargo ever closer to its destination: Port Royal. A young woman stood on the deck of the ship, looking out over the water. She wore a pale green dress and carried a closed parasol in her right hand. The small umbrella was meant to protect the girl's fashionably pale skin from the harsh Caribbean sun, but the girl obviously had different ideas. Already there was a smattering of light brown spots on the bridge of her nose. She seemed to be lost in some distant memory that was trying to surface in her mind. She jumped when a stern looking woman garbed in navy blue said her name sharply.

"Katherine, where have you been? I almost died of worry when I woke up and you weren't there!"

The young woman came out of her reverie. "I'm … I'm sorry, Mrs. Lucas I should have left a note" she said softly. Katherine highly doubted that the older woman in front of her was very worried when she awoke from her afternoon nap to find that her young charge had left the cabin.

"Left a note? You shouldn't have left the room at all! A young lady wandering around a boat without an escort! It's _improper_! And open your parasol. You're lovely skin is getting those freckles already." Mrs. Lucas said the word "freckles" like it was a expletive.

"Yes, Mrs. Lucas." Katherine reluctantly opened the lady-like parasol to shield her face from the sun. _Just as always_, she thought. Always protecting me from some evil thing that will mar the lady you have so diligently made me into.

"Come, let us go back to the cabin. This heat is positively repulsive." Mrs. Lucas took Katherine by the arm and began to walk towards the cabin they shared.

As they were strolling along the deck, the ship as abruptly rocked by what felt like the earth trembling. It was as if the water had shoved the ship violently to one side, and then became calm again. Katherine slowly picked herself up from the filthy deck that she had been so unexpectedly thrown upon. All who were on deck, crew and passengers alike, looked at each other fearfully. Some sailors were muttering counter curses to ward of bad luck, while some people seemed to be fingering their rosaries. The captain of the ship rushed our from his cabin and began to bark out orders to the apprehensive crew.

Suddenly a giant tentacle came up over the side of the bait and wrapped itself around a shrieking crewman. The sailor stabbed at the gigantic tentacle with his knife, but was pulled, screaming, into the sea before he could free himself. There was a moment of stunned silence.

"Dear God, help us." Mrs. Lucas' whispered prayer brought everyone on deck back into motion. The crew grabbed every weapon in sight and began waging war on the many tentacles that were creeping up the sides of the ship. The air was filled with the symphony of screaming men, firing guns, and breaking wood. A small tentacle suddenly slithered towards Katherine and Mrs. Lucas, and ensnared the latter around the ankle, pulling her into the now fierce ocean. Katherine added her high-pitched scream of horror to the din. She turned to run away and saw, on the edge of her field of vision, a man being dragged towards her by one of the monstrous tentacles. Before she could react, the man crashed into her, sending her flying overboard.

The churning ocean closed over her head, creating a sudden soundlessness that chilled her to the bone. She realized with terror that she was drowning. Kicking and clawing at the water above her, she managed to surface just in time to hear a horrifying crack. The ship that had carried her from England along with more than one hundred souls was broken in two by the enormous tentacles as if it were a twig. Katherine began to sink in the water again, dragged down by her heavy dress. She groped blindly for something to keep her afloat. _Oh God, I don't want to die._


	2. Chapter 2

_I don't want to die. I don't want to die._

The thought pounded through her head as her hands still searched for an object that would float. Anything that would save her from the watery, unmarked grave that lay below her. She had been underwater for far too long now. Her chest was ripping apart, her head was exploding from lack of oxygen. Reaching out feebly, she made one last effort to save her life. Something rough and hard brushed her hand. It seemed to be rising in the water, fighting to get above the crushing weight of the ocean. Digging her fingernails into the wood, she grabbed it and held on for dear life. The wood finally surfaced, bringing Katherine above the water with it. She drank in the air as if she was parched and the air was cool water. Looking around her, she saw was that she was utterly alone, surrounded by debris - all that was left of the mighty vessel that had been floating peacefully on the water only a few minutes ago.

I'm going to die here, she thought. Everyone is lost, taken down into the sea by some monster, and now there is only me. She thought of all the people she had seen aboard the _Marauder_. Men and women going to a new world to start a new life. Sailors, young and old, who didn't deserve to die like this. And the children - oh, the children. Just yesterday she had seen a family strolling on the deck together, with two little ones, the little boy looking like he'd just learned to walk. Now they were under the cold, merciless sea, and she, Katherine, was alive. She didn't understand how this could happen.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an unearthly roar of the sea. She turned towards the sound, and was shocked to see a ship that looked as though it had come from the bottom of the ocean. The ship sailed towards her slowly, glistening with water. It kept coming closer until the sharp-toothed creature carved into its bow was almost upon her. Katherine just looked up, wide-eyed, at the colossal ship above her. A gruff male voice from the ship told some unknown party there weren't any survivors.

"Good," a cold voice answered. The owner of the voice stepped onto the bow of the ship to look over the ocean, placing himself in Katherine's line of sight. She had to stop herself from screaming when she saw he. "He" appeared to be a man, except for the octopus-like growths coming from his face where a normal man would grow a beard. The thing didn't have a nose either. She stared at it in stunned horror, both repulsed and fascinated by this supernatural being. The creature finally noticed her in the water below him.

"There's a woman in the water!"

"Should we get her, Captain?"

The "captain" stared at her icily. A frigid tingling went up Katherine's spine. "No," the captain said after a moment. "Leave the girl in the water."

With that, the ship began to move off into the now setting sun, leaving her to stare after it. She could almost swear she heard the distant sounds of a pipe organ in its wake. _I must be going insane._


	3. Chapter 3

Katherine had heard some legends of the sea, but nothing could explain what she had just seen. Or what she _thought_ she had seen. Maybe this wasn't real - maybe it was a figment of the imagination of a bright young woman tired of the prison that was her life. Maybe this was all a bad dream, and she would wake up any minute, safely in the cabin of the ship with Mrs. Lucas sleeping soundly beside her. Please let this be a dream. _Please let me wake up . . ._

But she didn't wake up. She was still holding on to the wood, drifting in the middle of the ocean. Using all of her strength, she slowly and carefully pulled herself on top of the wood. At least now she wasn't in the water.

The sun was setting, making a fantastic rainbow of color. It was almost as if some artist from above had spilled his paints into the sky, streaking it with vibrant violets, reds, and oranges. Normally, this sight would have taken Katherine's breath away, but tonight she just watched it numbly.

When all was dark, she finally let herself cry. She wept for all the things she had lost, for all the lives that had been so abruptly and unjustly ended. For the meaningless superficial life she led that would amount to nothing. For her mother.

Katherine had been taught that crying was a weakness, that it just showed woman's fragility and inability to think rationally. She had always been ashamed of her tears. Maybe that was why she waited until nighttime to cry. The gentle darkness had never judged her or ridiculed her, and it always allowed her to drain out all of her emotions so she could put on a mask of contented happiness in the morning. So many nights she had cried herself to sleep. And this night proved to be like any other. With the steady rhythm of the sea rocking her like a baby, she fell into a deep dreamless slumber. The trails of tears down her pale cheeks were still visible, shining in the moonlight.

He watched the sun rise over the open ocean, casting the first rays of dawn onto the deep blue water. He had always been an early riser, but lately it seemed like he just couldn't sleep. Memories and faces from the past haunted his dreams. And the heart . . . But he couldn't think about that now. He had chosen his path and now he had to follow it.

"Ah, Mr. Norrington, you're an early riser too, I see," a menacing voice hissed into his ear, making him jump. Norrington didn't turn, and continued to look out over the ocean. "Are you sure this is where you last saw the Black Pearl?" the voice continued. "Some might think you were lying, trying to cover something up."

Norrington turned now and faced the man speaking to him. "Over there is the Isla Cruces where I last saw the ship, Mr. Mercer." And Elizabeth, his conscience added. "I swore to you on my honor that this was the place where I last saw the Black Pearl and its crew." With that he walked away.

"You don't have any honor," Mercer said, just loud enough that Norrington could hear him. Mercer's mouth curved into a devilish grin. He would find a way to break this man, and make him bow before the East India Trading Company before he was through with him. When Norrington had first been found in the ocean with the letters of marque, Mercer didn't know what to do with him. But now he was beginning to think that Lord Beckett would find a use for former Commodore Norrington after all.

With wind in its sails, the ship moved at a good pace over the smooth Caribbean sea. The sound of the chatter of the crewmen and the whisper of the water against the ship filled the air. It was music to a sailor's ears.

Norrington moved back to the side of the ship, caressing the smooth wood of it with his hand. He looked back out over the sea, scanning the horizon, breathing in the fresh sea air. He paused. There was something in the water. A closed parasol. A parasol bobbing in the middle of the ocean? He moved quickly to the bow of the ship to get a better view of the water. The last time he had seen objects floating in the sea like this had been nearly ten years ago, when he had first come from England to Port Royal. That had been the day they had found a young William Turner . . .

Once he was at the bow, he looked at the open ocean in front of him. The water was dotted with debris: pieces of rigging, crates, and barrels. Floating in the middle of the debris was what looked like a large chunk of the hull of the unfortunate ship that had met its end here. Norrington looked closer. On the wood lay a young woman, curled up as if she was sleeping, he dress fanning out around her.

"Man overboard!" Norrington yelled. The calm rhythm of the sailors stopped. At once, the crew ran to the sides of the ship to peer over the water. As they spotted the girl various cries of "Look, a lady in the water" were audible. Norrington looked around for some sailor preparing to rescue the poor girl. No one was moving, just staring at the water.

"What heroes," he said scornfully. Removing his coat, hat, and boots, he picked up a rope and tossed it to the nearest sailor, who looked at him stupidly. "Hold onto the rope, and pull me out of the water when I reach the girl." Then, wrapping one end of the rope around his hand, he walked to the side of the ship. The girl was beginning to stir, evidently his shout had roused her. Taking a deep breath, Norrington dived into the water below him.

Katherine opened her eyes slowly. Something had pulled her out of her deep sleep. She shifted slightly on the floating wood, the sharp pain in her ribs reminding her that she was still wearing her corset. But what had made her wake up? She thought it sounded like the shout of a man, but she couldn't see how a man would be yelling, not when she was alone in the middle of the ocean.

There was a great splash a few meters from her. Katherine was shocked to see a man swimming towards her! How could this be, she thought. She lifted her eyes and something that made her heart jump with joy. There was a giant ship looming in the distance, not a stones throw away. Oh, I'm saved! But then she noticed that wasn't flying any colors. _Pirates._

The man finally reached her. She looked at him, fear clawing at the back of her mind. He reached for her, but she moved away from his hand, making the wood she was on sway dangerously.

"It's all right," the man murmured. "I'm not going to hurt you." She could tell by his accent that this man was of a higher class than the average sailor. A gentleman in the ocean, saving her? But she let him wrap him arm around her and ease her into the water. She dug her fingers into the cloth of his shirt as they rose slowly out of the water. Squeezing her eyes shut, she held her breath, afraid that they would fall back into the sea that had proved to be so deadly.

"Miss, you must let go of me." Katherine opened her eyes to see that they were safely on the ship. Her rescuer set her down gently on the deck. She tried to say "thank you" but the words caught in her parched throat, and she uttered an unladylike wheeze instead.

"Fetch the lady some water," the man said. A sailor gave her a cup which she put to her lips. Nothing had ever felt so good as the water rushing over her dry, tacky tongue and down her throat. She drank greedily, but the man stopped her before she could finish the glass. "It will make you sick if you drink too much," he said simply.

"Thank you," a meek, small voice said. For a moment, her ears didn't even recognize the timid voice as her own.

"And who might you be?" a man with a tough weathered face and malicious eyes asked her.


End file.
